Mass Power Shift is Heating Up via It's Getting Hot In Here
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Maine Lobstermen Rally Against Coal Gassification! via It's Getting Hot In Here
A new coal gassification plant is being proposed for the former site of Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. This plant would generate 700 megawatts of electricity from the gas and 9,000 barrels of diesel fuel. This is a contentious plan and last Thursday, October 11, the North End Lobster Co-op held a demonstration with 30 lobster boats and a gaggle of shore-bound supports including two state representatives. The lobster co-op opposes the new plant because of the shipping vessels that would be going in and out of lobstering grounds. The lobstermen claim that the barges delivering coal would severely decrease the areas that lobstermen could fish in. This recent demonstration is a great example of the potential for collaboration between economic interests and environmental interests. The idea... SUNY Going Green? via It's Getting Hot In Here
From fellow Campus Climate Challenge campaigner Suzanne Graham
This last Saturday a group of student leaders and myself traveled to Alfred, NY for the September meeting of the New York State Student Assembly’s (NYSSA) Executive Committee (the overseeing body of the student government for the State University of New York system). At this particular meeting the agenda was being worked on for the Fall NYSSA conference. At these saucy conferences leaders from 64 SUNY campuses discuss, debate, and make policies to dictate the future of the SUNY system.
On this blustery Saturday, we set off with a fairly ambitious mission: greening the SUNY system (it’s time).
Over the past year I have worked with a group of (kick-ass) students to help turn SUNY Fredonia from a campus that...
The Daily Show Skewers Cape Wind Opponents via It's Getting Hot In Here
This is hilarious, because it’s so true. As usual, the Daily Show has deployed satire to perfectly highlight the ridiculousness of the NIMBY opposition to the Cape Wind offshore wave energy project proposed for Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts.... Columbia U. is new pilot site for the program that will save American cities via It's Getting Hot In Here
Have you seen anything about the US Green Building Council’s new LEED - Neighborhood Development standards?? If you haven’t, you should, cuz this stuff is exciting.
Columbia University’s proposed Manhattanville expansion was chosen for a new “smart growth” pilot program under LEED-ND standards. This is hot! Use the money and connections of the university system to help develop a program that will make our cities functional again.
A few reasons why LEED-ND standards are so cool:
considers impacts on physical and mental health, social capital, injuries, physical fitness, and special populations like children and low income communities
places buildings in context
makes it harder for stupid buildings like casinos and prisons
YOU can get involved! - Join the... Where Has All the Maple Syrup Gone? via It's Getting Hot In Here
I’m not going to write much, because I’m actually getting ready to make pancakes for some friends. But when I woke up to today’s New York Times article, “Warm Winters Upset Rhythms of Maple Sugar” , I realized that pancakes might have to wait.
Scientists have been predicting the disruption of the maple syruping industry as one of the major economic and cultural impacts on New England, since sugar maples are very sensitive to temperature. They need the right temperature range to grow and survive, like all plants, but they also need the right conditions to be tapped for syrup.
Growing up in rural Connecticut, we made two trips a year to the nearest syrup shack, full of the best smells in the world, hundreds of gallons of boiling maple syrup… But years...
Climate Victory at Williams via It's Getting Hot In Here
Williams College recently joined the ranks of colleges that have committed to drastic cuts in CO2 emissions. On January 24th our president emailed the campus a resolution that had been unanimously passed by the trustees, reading:
“WHEREAS, The President and Trustees of Williams College believe that the principles and practices of environmental sustainability in general, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions specifically, are institutional priorities,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
As recommended by the President’s Staff acting on the report of the Climate Action Committee, Williams College hereby adopts as a goal the reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions by ten percent below the College’s 1990-91 emissions level by the year 2020.”
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Share...... 2007 Maine State Climate Summit a Success! via It's Getting Hot In Here
On Friday, February 9th, over 100 people gathered at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Me to hear Allison Drayton speak about the challenges of Climate Change and what it will take to solve them. Though depressing in some aspects, her words were engaging and gave a great kick-off to a very successful weekend.
Saturday was spent getting talked at by a diverse group of impressive speakers. The topics included international climate politics, urban planning, carbon sequestration using plankton and concrete, solar installations including financing options, sustainable endowments, climate science skepticism, ice core research, and the impact of food on climate change. The diversity of subjects and active engagement of participants made for a productive and exciting dialogue that lasted... Guster and the Campus Consciousness Tour — Spring 2007 via It's Getting Hot In Here
Picture this: a high profile national tour of 20 universities that is a combination environmental awareness campaign and rock show.
The Campus Consciousness Tour fuses these worlds with an afternoon of activities and an evening concert headlined by Guster.
Watch a short video recapping last year’s Campus Consciousness Tour.
Check out the current schedule to see when Guster and the tour might be rolling onto your campus.
You might even be able to bring Guster and the Campus Consciousness Tour to your school! The dates that are currently open are April 15-19, 2007 anywhere on the East Coast and April 22-25, 2007 anywhere in New England.
To learn more about the Campus Consciousness Tour and see tour dates continue reading…
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Tuesday: A Vision for Our Communities via It's Getting Hot In Here
Today is the Community Day of Action of the Week of Climate Action. Here are some things you can do to help stand up to dirty energy, to say Not In Anyone’s Backyard!:
-Call into Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s office (617-725-4005) with this message: “Thank you for signing the regional pact to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants, but you need to put your word in practice and stop the Chelsea Power Plant proposal of EMI (Energy Management, Inc.).”
-Visit www.energyjustice.net/actionalert to send an email and/or make a phone call to Xcel Energy’s CEO, Board of Directors and their Environmental Policy Director, asking them to take a leadership role in using conservation, efficiency and renewables, rather than building the Comanche 3 coal-fired... The Road to Neutrality via It's Getting Hot In Here
This January, a group of eleven intrepid Middlebury students have embarked on a quest to come up with a comprehensive and ambitious plan to make Middlebury climate neutral. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be crunching numbers, researching options, and compiling them into one kick-ass document that will be presented to our Board of Trustees this February. With the help of the rest of the MiddShift campaign and the bomber Sunday Night Group, we’ll also be rallying student support, holding climate neutral coffee hours down at the town cafe, and putting on the coolest summit of the winter (it’s not to late to register, follow the link: Climate Neutrality Summit, Jan 19-21). We’re documenting our progress on a blog which we hope will serve as a resource to other... Save the Snow! Save the Snow! Save the Snow! via It's Getting Hot In Here
I think I’ve heard “Let it Snow” at least 10 times in the past few weeks, on the radio, in stores, and as carollers sing around campus. Since I’ve been thinking a lot about warming in the Northeast and the decreased snowfall we can expect in the future, our ideals of a white winter may be harder and harder to meet. (To read more about Northeast impacts, here’s the Union of Concerned Scientists’ report.) Re-inspired by Josh Tulkin, here’s a new climate spoof to the tune of “Let it Snow”.
Oh, climate change is so frightful
But the solutions are delightful
We’ve got so many improvements to go
Save the snow, save the snow, save the snow
All the emissions we need to be stopping
And oil and coal be dropping
We can bring emissions way...
Environmental Justice in Chelsea Mass via It's Getting Hot In Here
Every once in a while, the debate over new vs. old energy technologies comes to a head. A community organizing effort this past Thursday provided just such an event. About 30 students and youth from the Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee converged on the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) 2006 Boston World Oil Conference, but not to participate or cheer on the participants. Instead, they stormed in to protest Jim Gordon, the CEO of EMI, who is trying to build a diesel power plant in their community. Gordon was actually SPEAKING at the conference, as the CEO of Cape Wind, a company trying to build a wind farm in Cape Cod.
Chelsea is largely a poor, Latino, and Black community just northeast of Boston, which already experiences heavy environmental injustice... Campus Climate Challenge Summit - Day 1 via It's Getting Hot In Here
Today the Campus Climate challenge Summit in New Hampshire got off to a great start today, check out the video with some of the highlights....
“This should be a national movement.” via It's Getting Hot In Here
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman once called me a member of the Flat Earth Society (it’s ironic that he meant that as insult, given his latest book, The World Is Flat). But I’m willing to let by-gones by by-gones, because now he is a leading preacher of the gospel that on energy issues, “Green is the new Red, White, and Blue.” And in today’s New York Times he penned a column all about student efforts to make colleges and universities “carbon-nuetral” and titled it “The Greenest Generation.” He called clean energy the challenge for our generation. Mr. Friedman, we’re right with you on that - and you’d be pleasantly surprised how many of us there are.
In his column Friedman profiled efforts at Williams College in...